The Los Angeles County Health Department has issued a bizarre new threat against John MacArthur and Grace Community Church in order to keep them from gathering: shut your church down or we’ll sic the homeless on you.
Pastor John MacArthur confirmed the bizarre threat while preaching at the Trinity Bible Church in Dallas, TX on March 14. He explains:
We have been threatened by the county, the city, the state of California, endlessly for about a year. They have not been able to close us down at all. We’re thankful for that. They have made all kinds of bizarre threats. They have threatened to lock down our parking lots- that didn’t work.
The latest threat was that two weeks ago, they called and said they’re going to put a homeless encampment in our parking lot. They’re going to gather homeless from everywhere- this is actually true- and fill up our parking lot with homeless people to try to shut us down. My response was ‘perfect, we’ll have our seminary students evangelize them all day long.’
Maybe someone got the word in the city because they pulled back from that.
The visit to Trinity Bible Church is the first church MacArthur has preached at other his own since the pandemic began, over a year ago. He likewise expressed his amazement that even though his church hasn’t had an offering in over a year, the giving has exceeded any giving in any period of time in the history of the church. Speaking to the future and his upcoming trial, he is hopeful the proceedings may not get that far.
None of us knows when this nonsense is going to end, but we may get to a point where this COVID lockdown begins to slow down to such a point that our case will never even be litigated, and that’s our hope.
In a demonstration of how much they value racial diversity and inclusion, Columbia University is hosting a series of racially and sexually segregated graduation ceremonies for racial, sexual, and financial minorities.
While not replacing the general commencement, yet, these themed services will be given to the self-identifying in order to provide safe space and intimate setting so that they can “reflect on personal growth and community experiences that have impacted their time as students through to graduation.”
They explain on their website:
The university is breaking down the ceremony into the following categories,
Native Graduation: A graduation ceremony for Native Americans
Lavender Graduation: A graduation ceremony forLGBTQQIP2SAA+
Asian Graduation: A graduation ceremony for Asians
FLI Graduation: A graduation ceremony first-generation immigrants and low income students.
Latinx Graduation: A graduation ceremony is for Latinx students
Black Graduation: A graduation for Black folk.
There is no separate ceremonies for white students who aren’t queer or poor.
Racially and sexually segregated graduation ceremonies. One of the ‘best’ universities in the world. 2021.
At this time, it’s uncertain whether or not biracial or bisexual students will be able to attend the ceremony of choice, or whether they would have to attend the one that most closely reflects their skin color or sexual orientation.
Pope Francis has called for the creation of a “new world order” in order to properly navigate and survive a post-pandemic world, according to his new book released today.
Titled God and the World to Come, the Pontiff sat down with Italian journalist Domenico Agasso and made his plea for the “great reset.” The book hits on all the progressive papal platitudes we’ve come to expect from the unusually feisty Francis, including ragging on fossil fuels, capitalism, and military buildup.
Instead of these things, he says we must create an inclusive future that promotes radical environmental and economic policies.
We can no longer blithely accept inequalities and disruptions to the environment.Thepath to humanity’s salvation passes through the creation of a new model of development, which unquestionably focuses on coexistence among peoples in harmony with Creation…There is also an awareness among young people, particularly within ecological movements. If we don’t roll up our sleeves and immediately take care of the Earth, with radical personal and political choices, with an economic ‘green’ turn by directing technological developments in this direction, sooner or later our common home will throw us out the window. We cannot waste any more time.
Then, echoing what Rham Emmanuel said during the 2018 financial crisis (“You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”) Francis explains:
The world will never be the same again. But it is precisely within this calamity that we must grasp those signs which may prove to be the cornerstones of reconstruction…Let us all keep in mind that there is something worse than this crisis: the drama of wasting it. We cannot emerge from a crisis the same as before: we either come out better or we come out worse…What is happening can awaken everyone. It is time to remove social injustice and marginalization. If we seize the current trial as an opportunity, we can prepare for tomorrow under the banner of human fraternity.
It is this utopia that we ought to pursue, and must not waste it by “closing in on ourselves.” This will how we obtain a new world order.
Instead, we can heal injustice by building a new world order based on solidarity, studying innovative methods to eradicate bullying, poverty and corruption, all working together, each for their own part, without delegating and passing the buck. Also by working to provide healthcare for all. In this way, by practicing and demonstrating social cohesion, we will be able to rise again.
On March 14, 2021, Pastor Jacob Spenst of Gracelife Church in Edmonton, Alberta, read a letter from Pastor James Coates, their incarcerated pastor who remains locked up in a maximum-security detention center for being unwilling to allow the government to dictate how the worship of the One True Living God is to be conducted.
To the Church in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ which is at Gracelife:
Grace to you and peace in the beloved. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has created us worthy to be greatly used in this time of tribulation.
Out of the superabundance of his grace, he has set us apart for this purpose. We have not only been gifted grace to deliver in Christ, but also to suffer for the sake of his headship over the church, a headship which is inseparable from the gospel.
He has been preparing us for this in order to display his glory to the whole earth. We must count ourselves privileged to be used for this end. As with the apostle Paul, my imprisonment has resulted in many of the brethren having greater courage to stand for righteousness. While it is true that many still remain seated, I believe that in due time they will come to see things differently. Please continue to pray to this end.
I know that my imprisonment has increased your love and unity together. This a clear mark of the spirit’s work among you. He is filling you with the fullness of Christ and you’re bearing fruit to the glory of the Father.
Nevertheless, I expect you to excel still more- that your love would continue to increase to his delight and praise. Clothe yourselves with compassion and humility toward each other. Forgive one another if there be any offense. Do so knowing the forgiveness you have received in Christ.
Thank you for the way you have cared for my family in my absence. I truly cannot thank you enough for that. Thank you for the many letters of encouragement you have sent, they are critical to my joy and perseverance. Some have moved me to tears. Pray for my release but also that I would be given the opportunity and boldness to proclaim the blessed gospel, making it clear to the hearers.
Pastor Jacob, Paul, and the elders in development: shepherd the flock of God among you.
Bible studies shepherds: shepherd your studies as unto the Lord. In addition, assist the elders by being diligent to engage newcomers.
Pastor Jacob: preach the word with great patience and instruction, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all authority. Let no one disregard you.
I James, write this in my own hand. I love you and miss you dearly.
And now may the God of all grace minister to every need, that you would be continually sanctified unto the fullness of the stature of Christ. To him be the glory, forever and ever.
Amen.
Transcript provided by Protestia. There was also a parenthesis to not forget the live streamers. ‘Pastor Jake’ has been changed to ‘Pastor Jacob’ for clarity.
Musician and artist “Propaganda,” whose real name is Jason Emmanuel Petty, is perhaps best known for his blistering critique of Puritanism’s racist history with the song “Precious Puritans.” Now, in a collaboration with Swoope, he released a new single ‘We No Entiende’ that takes a look at protests of racial issues in America, particularly over the summer.
While the song serves to capture the dismay and frenetic loss many have experienced, many of the lyrics could be ripped right out of a Black Lives Matter press release, with claims that the protests were peaceful until the police showed up, that innocents were murdered, and that perhaps the rioting was justified – “History lesson, make them listen. Maybe after we burn that building.”
There is a seeming comparison of Kyle Rittenhouse to mass shooter Dylan Roof (Though TGC already made that point), a claim about the collective white boot on the neck of black folk, and rhetorical question, “You want to know who the real believers in America are? It’s those that refuse to let her hide in her delusion.”
The song concludes with a verse from Swoope, making accusations of racist dog whistles in the contemporary Christian music scene, that those who wear red MAGA hats can’t see the victims of black violence, and then says “Christ died in the blackest way possible. With his hands up and his momma there watchin’ him.”
Dog whistles to the tune of CC+M Blood cries out in Sunday service From brothers just right outside getting murdered If you unable to see who’s Abel It’s ’cause that red hat, it ain’t where Cain go If you don’t see God in the folks put down Then, you should pull his book out, take a look now Christ died in the blackest way possible With his hands up and his momma there watchin’ him Tell that to POTUS, let’s expose it You had that mask on before COVID You’re either Pharoah or you’re Moses And time will tell who survives the ocean
The line is from a Crystal Valentia poem, who declares after hearing a reporter claim Jesus was white “how can she say Jesus was a white man when he died the blackest way possible? with his hands up, with his mother watching?”
Of course, it takes a particularly crooked kind of theology that would see Christ’s ultimate death and sacrifice through a racial lens, making racial applications and comparisons based on bad statistics and racist propaganda.
It’s a hot take that has no basis in reality, with things like heart disease, cancer, strokes, and a host of other medical maladies being far above the late finisher. Unless we are talking about abortion, which would surely take the crown. In fact, the amount of black people who died with their hands up (don’t shoot) and their moms watching is basically non-existent.
But can you imagine thinking this way? Feeling the need to apply a racial lens on the death of Christ to make it more relatable? This is the culmination of wokeness, social justice blasphemy, and one could imagine the uproar if a pastor preached a sermon declaring that “Christ died in the whitest way possible” and then adding some white stereotype trope afterward.
On one hand it’s just a line from a song that not a ton of people are going to listen to. On the other, for what it represents, it’s way more than that.
Editor’s note. An earlier version of this article noted that Swoope collaborated on this song, but did not specifically say that he was the one who wrote the verse. As such, Prop responded to our post and pointed out that while he loves the verse and doesn’t see anything wrong with it, that he wasn’t the author and it’s not fair to assign those words to him as if he said them.
Our original title was “Rapper Propaganda Says that ‘Christ Died in the Blackest Way Possible, With Both Hands…’ This was based on the fact that it was presented as a Propaganda song, featuring Swoope, and belied our expectation that he would be responsible for the lyrical content that appears on his own track. But for the sake of greater clarity, we have changed the title to accommodate this requested nuance.
The fifty-first album in an ongoing series documenting faithful churches gathering for Sunday service in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
With some churches still not gathering in-person in these dark times, others being persecuted by the government for being open, and others ending services for the rest of the year, these are the congregations who are meeting faithfully at the command of Scripture (Heb. 10:25).
These churches are preaching outside, are back in their buildings having in-person services, or are having drive-through services. Some with masks and social distancing, others without.
All are being safe. All are being obedient to the scriptures. All are loving their neighbors.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has come out swinging against therapy for unwanted same-sex attraction, describing the process of seeking counseling and prayer to change one’s attraction as “repulsive” and vowing to end its practice.
The move to excise all forms of conversion therapy, which is described as any effort to change one’s sexual orientation or gender identity, comes just weeks after a conservative Member of Parliament likened prayer and fasting as a means to affect one sexual orientation as similar to “electroshock therapy” and “corrective rape” and days after three of his LGBT advisors quit over a “lack of progress” in the area, complaining that Johnson was not making it a priority after vowing to ban in the practice he described as “abhorrent in 2020”
As a result of the ministers quitting, Johnson expressed sorrow at their course of action but vowed to proceed as planned.
I think this practice is repulsive and I think it’s abhorrent and I’m sorry these advisers have gone but be in no doubt that we will deal with this issue. It is technically complex to deal with but we’re determined to take further steps to stamp it out.”
Last month, Conservative MP Alicia Kearns set off a bit of controversy after she wrote an article in The House, arguing:
So-called ‘conversion therapy’ is just as it sounds: attempts to use medical, psychological and social methods to ‘convert’ someone away from their innate sexual orientation. It can range from ‘therapy’ and prayer sessions, to aversive treatments like electroshocks or even ‘corrective’ rape. The impact is deeply harmful, causing life-long difficulties in forming relationships, experiencing positive emotions and maintaining self-esteem as well as painful physical manifestations of abuse.
Not one to be outdone, another Member of Parliament, Angela Eagle, castigated the use of prayer for people with unwanted same-sex. Describing it as “harmful,” she said it was akin to “being told by faith leaders or your family that you are sinful.” and that “being told to pray harder to change and to question your innermost feelings and thoughts, none of that should be legal.”
It is a strange logic that says one’s gender, identity, orientation, expression, and even biology are completely fluid and can be changed at will, while at the same time declaring that any effort to help a person affect these things in a way that is unfavorable to the LGBTQ ideals is branded as the most barbaric thing around.
Responding to the hysteria from the Conservative government, Ciarán Kelly, Christian Institute Deputy Director for Communications, rebutted the statements from the MP”s and Prime Minister, bemoaning the level of ignorance that these people were exhibiting towards mainstream Christian practices.
“Of course we believe people should be protected from quack therapists and charlatan preachers. Most of these practices are already illegal and we would urge the government to ensure the law is applied properly… (but) there must also be room for the preaching of God’s Word and for believers to receive prayer and pastoral support, whatever temptations they are facing…
A pastor or church should not face prosecution if a gay man or woman attends church, comes to faith and seeks help in following Christ’s teaching on sexual ethics.”
Now, Keller is back at it again. This time explaining that a decade from now Christians likely won’t be able to work for a major university, government, or for a big corporation due to our view on sex and gender and saying awful, vilifying things like “Democrats and the left are gonna destroy your religious liberty.” Despite this frightful reality, Keller says we shouldn’t be “crybabies” about it, because “we nurtured it” and “we brought it on ourselves.” He explains:
For the last 20 years the Christian right, though I usually would agree with their positions, I’m pro-life, I still don’t think that same-sex marriage is a good idea for the country or people. So I would technically be agreeing with them, but you know how they raised their money. For 20 years, they sent out letters talking about how “You’ve got to send us money, because the gay people are going to try to come and take your children away, because they’re evil and because the Democrats and the left are gonna destroy your religious liberty.”
They just said awful things and vilified people. It’s one of the reasons why so many gay activists now just don’t want to forgive evangelicals, because when they had a little more power in the ’80s and ’90s, that’s how they raised their money. That’s how they got people out. And weirdly enough, that’s not the Christian way at all. The Christian way is, the way up is down. The way to rule is to serve. This is how Jesus did it.
The way to get happy is to not think about your own happiness but the happiness of others. The way to get any influence is to empty yourself and be a servant. That’s Jesus’ way, and they’re not doing that. They’re actually using the Nietzschean way. And I think what that did was, by for a long time just keeping evangelicals frothing at the mouth about how everything is going so bad and making everybody so angry.
By the way, things are getting bad for evangelicals. It’s very possible. I am not in denial about the fact that ten years from now, if you have evangelical convictions about sex and gender, you may not be able to work for a major university or for the government or for a big corporation. And it’s not that Christians haven’t faced that other places in the past. We shouldn’t be crybabies. Nevertheless, having said all that, yeah, we nurtured this. And Christian nationalists use that. And therefore, we brought it on ourselves.
Robert AJ Gagnon has responded to Keller in an especially insightful way on Twitter, retorting:
Keller’s statement is irresponsible: The idea that Xians brought the attenuation of their liberties upon themselves, as if it was never the original objective of “LGBTQ” zealots to codify into law the view that Xians are hateful, ignorant bigots, is absurd.
No figure in the ancient world had a higher view of the necessity of a male-female prerequisite for marriage and sexual relations than Jesus. None. Servanthood did not negate his willingness to make this clear publicly.
Keller’s recipe that if we had followed the way of Jesus we never should have warned about the threat posed to civil liberties by “LGBTQ” immorality and deception, or voted accordingly, may justify his Never-Trumpism but it has no basis in reality.
h/t to wokepreachertv for the transcript and audio
Weeks after suspending his ministry after being “visited by the Lord in a very significant way” – prophet Jeremiah Johnson has officially shuttered his ministry page, Facebook page, social media accounts, and deleted all its content from his website, announcing that he is starting a new one in its place.
The move comes as the result of some soul searching by Johnson after he publicly apologized for falsely prophesying that Trump would win a second term. The charismatic brothers did not respond well to this confession, with some sending him death threats. As a result, his funding also dryed up. He explained back in January:
I have received multiple death threats and thousands upon thousands of emails from Christians saying the nastiest and most vulgar things I have ever heard toward my family and ministry. I have been labeled a coward, sellout, a traitor to the Holy Spirit, and cussed out at least 500 times. We have lost ministry partners every hour and counting.
In fact, Jeremiah was in the middle of a series called I was Wrong when he went on hiatus. One video at last count had over 150k views, 3.5k comments, 3k upvotes, and 1.1k downvotes, with Johnson noting that 90% of the comments were negative. That’s from just one of the videos in the series.
Clearly, the charismatics don’t like it when their own leaders apologizes for false prophecies.
In a move that does not bode well, however, he has formed a new ministry called The Altar Global, an eschatologically themed endeavor designed to “prepare for the return of Christ,” explaining that “Our mission according to Revelation 22:17 is to help prepare the Bride of Christ for the return of our glorious Bridegroom King Jesus. We have been instructed to prepare an Altar for the Wedding day.”
Johnson explained that this was not a rebranding, but a whole shift in focus, particularly with no more political prophecies.
I am not discouraged nor am I drawing back from my calling. Quite the opposite. I feel God is launching me, my family, and our ministry team further into His purpose for us. In response to God’s gracious correction, refinement, and empowerment, I’m choosing to refocus my gaze upon Jesus and the eternal realities of His Kingdom like never before.
For many years, I offered commentary on various political and world events. But now, I am shifting my attention to the preparation of the Bride for the return of our Bridegroom. I will be turning my attention away from social media in order to focus on what God requires of me. Yet I am thrilled to commission our incredible staff to run with, ‘The Altar Global’ on social media…
This is not a name or brand change but rather a complete shift of our ministry’s identity and focus. It requires a gigantic leap of faith for our team to embrace this mandate from God. We are hopeful, terrified and excited about what God is leading us into. Our vision and mission according to Revelation 22:17 is to help prepare the global bride of Christ for the return of our glorious bridegroom, King Jesus. We have been instructed to build an altar to help this generation get ready for the great wedding day,
Along with the new ministry, they are offering a one-year program that people can attend to receive “training from Jeremiah Johnson and other instructors on the lifestyle of an end-time messenger and the return of the Lord.”
A woke pastrix has given us some insight into what would happen when charismatic theology and Nikole Hannah-Jones’s 1619 project collide, with a sermon saying that societal demons landed on the shores of America in 1619, and that they need to be cast out, particularly out of the police stations.
Tanisha Walton, campus pastor of The Way Berkely explains in a sermon preached in June 2020:
The future depends on the work that every person puts in now to heal both their inner demons as well as our societal demons… Racism is demonic, and we shouldn’t be surprised when it keeps popping up. The same demon that landed on these shores in 1619 is the same demon that keeps popping up right now in 2020s, that demons have the same mode of operation, and all it needs is a host or person who is willing to let them manifest in them. So we’re seeing the same spirit, the demons don’t have any other mode of operation, but to operate in the same way that they originally did when they first got here…
People still have the autonomy to operate in these manners. We’re still holding the person accountable, but we have to get to the point where we can look at someone and look past them, and look right at the heart of the matter, that is this a demon that is manifesting itself. How else can you explain that man would keep his knee down on someone’s neck for almost 9 minutes unless you’re full of demons? Unless you’re full of the devil?
She references Mark 16:17 “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; and says that believers have the power available to cast out the spirit of racism and demonic forces.
Do you believe that God wants to use you to raise you up for a prophetic hope, to cast out these demons out of our cities, out of the police departments, out of our government? We have the power to be able to do it in the name of Jesus, but we can’t do it in our own strengths it has to be Holy Ghost, spirit-fueled social justice.
